abstract
- © 2022 Institution of Chemical EngineersHepatocarcinoma is one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Maize peptides have emerged a novel group of anticancer peptides to investigate. In this study, we evaluated the cytotoxic activity of ¿-zein hydrolysates obtained by three enzymatic treatments on HepG2 cells (T: trypsin, C: chymotrypsin, and TC: both enzymes). Their cytotoxic activity on HepG2 cells, showed an IC50 of 542.09 ng/mL, 384.83 ng/mL, and 395.34 ng/mL for T, C, and TC, respectively. The latter group were further fractionated by ion-exchange chromatography and screened in terms of their cytotoxic activity resulting in two fractions responsible for most of the bioactivity observed. Twelve possible peptide sequences with potential cell regulatory activities were predicted considering the ¿-zein sequences used. This study highlights the importance of food-derived peptides in the future development of anticancer pharmaceuticals.